Toric or not to toric

[777pilot]

I am a professional pilot, age 59, have controlled glaucoma and had a macular hole and successful surgery to repair it six months ago. As expected, this resulted in a cataract and I have surgery for that next month. I have a slight astigmatism (1.0) in that eye and my doctor recommended a toric lens but said I was borderline for needing it. I still have a distortion from the macular hole so all straight lines have a little notch and I need near vision help for reading.
My question is; should I get the toric lens or, because of the distortion and very slight astigmatism, will it make any difference?  I am inclined to go with the simpler option of a fixed distance lens. Not sure how the FAA views the toric lens but I understand they do not like the side effects of multifocal lenses. Thanks for any input or advice.

[Ear777]

I agree with the doctor. I just had Toric implants and am finding that distance, intermediate and up close vision has been comprimised by ghost images. You don't want that if you are flying. (or reading or anything else for that matter)

[777pilot]

Thank you Dr Shen. I think the incremental risk associated with the insertion and alignment of the toric lens outweighs the minor benefit it might give, not to mention the additional cost. I will need to wear glasses for near vision anyway to fly. I appreciate your prompt reply.

[Christopher C Shen, MD]

With the amount of astigmatism that you have, the toric lens may or may not have a significant effect.  Therefore, if you went with the standard lens, a contact lens or wearing glasses could offset the astigmatism fairly easily.